Cosmic distance

ladder

Light green boxes: Technique applicable to star-

forming galaxies.
Light blue boxes: Technique applicable to Population
II galaxies.
Li ht P l b G t i di t t h i
 Light Purple boxes: Geometric distance technique.
Light Red box: The planetary nebula luminosity
function technique is applicable to all populations of
the Virgo Supercluster.
Solid black lines: Well calibrated ladder step.
Dashed black lines: Uncertain calibration ladder step.

The cosmic distance ladder (also known

as the extragalactic distance scale) is the
succession of methods by which
astronomers determine the distances to
celestial objects. A real direct distance
measurement of an astronomical object is
possible only for those objects that are
"close enough" (within about a thousand
parsecs) to Earth. The techniques for
determining distances to more distant
objects are all based on various measured
correlations between methods that work
at close distances and methods that work
at larger distances. Several methods rely
on a standard candle, which is an
astronomical object that has a known
luminosity.

The ladder analogy arises because no

single technique can measure distances at
all ranges encountered in astronomy.
Instead, one method can be used to
measure nearby distances, a second can
be used to measure nearby to intermediate
distances, and so on. Each rung of the
ladder provides information that can be
used to determine the distances at the
next higher rung.

Direct measurement

Statue of an astronomer and the concept of the

cosmic distance ladder by the parallax method, made
from the azimuth ring and other parts of the Yale–
Columbia Refractor (telescope) (c 1925) wrecked by
the 2003 Canberra bushfires which burned out the
Mount Stromlo Observatory; at Questacon, Canberra,
Australian Capital Territory.

At the base of the ladder are fundamental

distance measurements, in which
distances are determined directly, with no
physical assumptions about the nature of
the object in question. The precise
measurement of stellar positions is part of
the discipline of astrometry.

Astronomical unit

Direct distance measurements are based

upon the astronomical unit (AU), which is
the distance between the Earth and the
Sun. Kepler's laws provide precise ratios of
the sizes of the orbits of objects orbiting
the Sun, but provides no measurement of
the overall scale of the orbit system. Radar
is used to measure the distance between
the orbits of the Earth and of a second
body. From that measurement and the
ratio of the two orbit sizes, the size of
Earth's orbit is calculated. The Earth's orbit
is known with an absolute precision of a
few meters and a relative precision of a
few 1 × 10−11.

Historically, observations of transits of

Venus were crucial in determining the AU;
in the first half of the 20th century,
observations of asteroids were also
important. Presently the orbit of Earth is
determined with high precision using radar
measurements of distances to Venus and
other nearby planets and asteroids,[1] and
by tracking interplanetary spacecraft in
their orbits around the Sun through the
Solar System.

Parallax

Stellar parallax motion from annual parallax. Half the

apex angle is the parallax angle.
The most important fundamental distance
measurements come from trigonometric
parallax. As the Earth orbits the Sun, the
position of nearby stars will appear to shift
slightly against the more distant
background. These shifts are angles in an
isosceles triangle, with 2 AU (the distance
between the extreme positions of Earth's
orbit around the Sun) making the base leg
of the triangle and the distance to the star
being the long equal length legs. The
amount of shift is quite small, measuring 1
arcsecond for an object at 1 parsec's
distance (3.26 light-years) of the nearest
stars, and thereafter decreasing in angular
amount as the distance increases.
Astronomers usually express distances in
units of parsecs (parallax arcseconds);
light-years are used in popular media.

Because parallax becomes smaller for a

greater stellar distance, useful distances
can be measured only for stars which are
near enough to have a parallax larger than
a few times the precision of the
measurement. In the 1990s, for example,
the Hipparcos mission obtained parallaxes
for over a hundred thousand stars with a
precision of about a milliarcsecond,[2]
providing useful distances for stars out to
a few hundred parsecs. The Hubble
telescope WFC3 now has the potential to
provide a precision of 20 to 40
microarcseconds, enabling reliable
distance measurements up to 5,000
parsecs (16,000 ly) for small numbers of
stars.[3][4] In 2018, Data Release 2 from the
Gaia space mission provides similarly
accurate distances to most stars brighter
than 15th magnitude.[5]

Stars have a velocity relative to the Sun

that causes proper motion (transverse
across the sky) and radial velocity (motion
toward or away from the Sun). The former
is determined by plotting the changing
position of the stars over many years,
while the latter comes from measuring the
Doppler shift of the star's spectrum
caused by motion along the line of sight.
For a group of stars with the same
spectral class and a similar magnitude
range, a mean parallax can be derived
from statistical analysis of the proper
motions relative to their radial velocities.
This statistical parallax method is useful
for measuring the distances of bright stars
beyond 50 parsecs and giant variable
stars, including Cepheids and the RR Lyrae
variables.[6]
Parallax measurements may be an important clue to
understanding three of the universe's most elusive
components: dark matter, dark energy and neutrinos.[7]

Hubble precision stellar distance measurement has

been extended 10 times further into the Milky Way.[8]
The motion of the Sun through space
provides a longer baseline that will
increase the accuracy of parallax
measurements, known as secular parallax.
For stars in the Milky Way disk, this
corresponds to a mean baseline of 4 AU
per year, while for halo stars the baseline
is 40 AU per year. After several decades,
the baseline can be orders of magnitude
greater than the Earth–Sun baseline used
for traditional parallax. However, secular
parallax introduces a higher level of
uncertainty because the relative velocity of
observed stars is an additional unknown.
When applied to samples of multiple stars,
the uncertainty can be reduced; the
uncertainty is inversely proportional to the
square root of the sample size.[9]

Moving cluster parallax is a technique

where the motions of individual stars in a
nearby star cluster can be used to find the
distance to the cluster. Only open clusters
are near enough for this technique to be
useful. In particular the distance obtained
for the Hyades has historically been an
important step in the distance ladder.

Other individual objects can have

fundamental distance estimates made for
them under special circumstances. If the
expansion of a gas cloud, like a supernova
remnant or planetary nebula, can be
observed over time, then an expansion
parallax distance to that cloud can be
estimated. Those measurements however
suffer from uncertainties in the deviation
of the object from sphericity. Binary stars
which are both visual and spectroscopic
binaries also can have their distance
estimated by similar means, and don't
suffer from the above geometric
uncertainty. The common characteristic to
these methods is that a measurement of
angular motion is combined with a
measurement of the absolute velocity
(usually obtained via the Doppler effect).
The distance estimate comes from
computing how far the object must be to
make its observed absolute velocity
appear with the observed angular motion.

Expansion parallaxes in particular can give

fundamental distance estimates for
objects that are very far, because
supernova ejecta have large expansion
velocities and large sizes (compared to
stars). Further, they can be observed with
radio interferometers which can measure
very small angular motions. These
combine to provide fundamental distance
estimates to supernovae in other
galaxies.[10] Though valuable, such cases
are quite rare, so they serve as important
consistency checks on the distance ladder
rather than workhorse steps by
themselves.

Standard candles
Almost all astronomical objects used as
physical distance indicators belong to a
class that has a known brightness. By
comparing this known luminosity to an
object's observed brightness, the distance
to the object can be computed using the
inverse-square law. These objects of
known brightness are termed standard
candles, coined by Henrietta Swan
Leavitt.[11]
The brightness of an object can be
expressed in terms of its absolute
magnitude. This quantity is derived from
the logarithm of its luminosity as seen
from a distance of 10 parsecs. The
apparent magnitude, the magnitude as
seen by the observer (an instrument called
a bolometer is used), can be measured
and used with the absolute magnitude to
calculate the distance D to the object in
kiloparsecs (where 1 kpc equals
1000 parsecs) as follows:

or
where m is the apparent magnitude and M
the absolute magnitude. For this to be
accurate, both magnitudes must be in the
same frequency band and there can be no
relative motion in the radial direction.

Some means of correcting for interstellar

extinction, which also makes objects
appear fainter and more red, is needed,
especially if the object lies within a dusty
or gaseous region.[12] The difference
between an object's absolute and apparent
magnitudes is called its distance modulus,
and astronomical distances, especially
intergalactic ones, are sometimes
tabulated in this way.

Problems

Two problems exist for any class of

standard candle. The principal one is
calibration, that is the determination of
exactly what the absolute magnitude of
the candle is. This includes defining the
class well enough that members can be
recognized, and finding enough members
of that class with well-known distances to
allow their true absolute magnitude to be
determined with enough accuracy. The
second problem lies in recognizing
members of the class, and not mistakenly
using a standard candle calibration on an
object which does not belong to the class.
At extreme distances, which is where one
most wishes to use a distance indicator,
this recognition problem can be quite
serious.

A significant issue with standard candles

is the recurring question of how standard
they are. For example, all observations
seem to indicate that Type Ia supernovae
that are of known distance have the same
brightness (corrected by the shape of the
light curve). The basis for this closeness in
brightness is discussed below; however,
the possibility exists that the distant Type
Ia supernovae have different properties
than nearby Type Ia supernovae. The use
of Type Ia supernovae is crucial in
determining the correct cosmological
model. If indeed the properties of Type Ia
supernovae are different at large
distances, i.e. if the extrapolation of their
calibration to arbitrary distances is not
valid, ignoring this variation can
dangerously bias the reconstruction of the
cosmological parameters, in particular the
reconstruction of the matter density
parameter.[13]
That this is not merely a philosophical
issue can be seen from the history of
distance measurements using Cepheid
variables. In the 1950s, Walter Baade
discovered that the nearby Cepheid
variables used to calibrate the standard
candle were of a different type than the
ones used to measure distances to nearby
galaxies. The nearby Cepheid variables
were population I stars with much higher
metal content than the distant population II
stars. As a result, the population II stars
were actually much brighter than believed,
and when corrected, this had the effect of
doubling the distances to the globular
clusters, the nearby galaxies, and the
diameter of the Milky Way.

Standard siren
Gravitational waves originating from the
inspiral phase of compact binary systems,
such as neutron stars or black holes, have
the useful property that both the amplitude
and shape of the emitted gravitational
radiation at any given frequency depend on
the masses of the binary
objects only in a single combination,[14]
called the chirp mass of the system
By observing the waveform, the chirp mass
and amplitude as emitted can be
computed. Thus, such a gravitational wave
source is a standard siren of known
loudness.[15][16] (If the signal were to
depend on the individual masses
separately, there would not be enough
observable information in the signal at the
lowest order to infer its intrinsic loudness.
This degeneracy between the masses
therefore is crucial for the loudness
measurement, but it is no accident: it has a
fundamental origin in the scale-free nature
of gravity in Einstein's general relativity.[17])

Just as with standard candles, given the

emitted and received amplitudes, the
inverse-square law determines the
distance to the source. There are some
differences with standard candles,
however. Gravitational waves are not
emitted isotropically, but measuring the
polarisation of the wave provides enough
information to determine the angle of
emission. Gravitational wave detectors
also have anisotropic antenna patterns, so
the position of the source on the sky
relative to the detectors is needed to
determine the angle of reception.
Generally, if a wave is detected by a
network of three detectors at different
locations, the network will measure
enough information to make these
corrections and obtain the distance. Also
unlike standard candles, gravitational
waves need no calibration against other
distance measures. The measurement of
distance does of course require the
calibration of the gravitational wave
detectors, but then the distance is
fundamentally given as a multiple of the
wavelength of the laser light being used in
the gravitational wave interferometer.
There are other considerations that limit
the accuracy of this distance, besides
detector calibration. Fortunately,
gravitational waves are not subject to
extinction due to an intervening absorbing
medium. But they are subject to
gravitational lensing, in the same way as
light. If a signal is strongly lensed, then it
might be received as multiple events,
separated in time (the analogue of multiple
images of a quasar, for example). Less
easy to discern and control for is the
effect weak lensing, where the signal's
path through space is affected by many
small magnification and demagnification
events. This will be important for signals
originating at cosmological redshifts
bigger than 1. Finally, it is difficult for
detector networks to measure the
polarization of a signal accurately if the
binary system is observed nearly face-
on.[18] This introduces significantly larger
errors in the distance measurement. In
addition, binaries radiate most strongly
perpendicular to the orbital plane, so face-
on signals are intrinsically stronger and
will therefore be over-represented in any
observed population.

If the binary consists of a pair of neutron

stars, their merger will be accompanied by
a kilonova/hypernova explosion that may
allow the position to be accurately
identified by electromagnetic telescopes.
This was the case for GW170817. In such
cases, the redshift of the host galaxy
allows a determination of the Hubble-
Lemaître constant .[14] The first such
measurement was made with
GW170817.[19] Even if no electromagnetic
counterpart can be identified for an
ensemble of signals, it is possible to use a
statistical method to infer the value of
.[14]

Standard ruler
Another class of physical distance
indicator is the standard ruler. In 2008,
galaxy diameters have been proposed as a
possible standard ruler for cosmological
parameter determination.[20] More recently
the physical scale imprinted by baryon
acoustic oscillations (BAO) in the early
universe has been used. In the early
universe (before recombination) the
baryons and photons scatter off each
other, and form a tightly-coupled fluid that
can support sound waves. The waves are
sourced by primordial density
perturbations, and travel at speed that can
be predicted from the baryon density and
other cosmological parameters. The total
distance that these sound waves can
travel before recombination determines a
fixed scale, which simply expands with the
universe after recombination. BAO
therefore provide a standard ruler that can
be measured in galaxy surveys from the
effect of baryons on the clustering of
galaxies. The method requires an
extensive galaxy survey in order to make
this scale visible, but has been measured
with percent-level precision (see baryon
acoustic oscillations). The scale does
depend on cosmological parameters like
the baryon and matter densities, and the
number of neutrinos, so distances based
on BAO are more dependent on
cosmological model than those based on
local measurements.

Light echos can be also used as standard

rulers,[21][22] although it is challenging to
correctly measure the source
geometry.[23][24]

Galactic distance indicators

With few exceptions, distances based on
direct measurements are available only
out to about a thousand parsecs, which is
a modest portion of our own Galaxy. For
distances beyond that, measures depend
upon physical assumptions, that is, the
assertion that one recognizes the object in
question, and the class of objects is
homogeneous enough that its members
can be used for meaningful estimation of
distance.

Physical distance indicators, used on

progressively larger distance scales,
include:

Dynamical parallax, uses orbital

parameters of visual binaries to
measure the mass of the system, and
hence use the mass–luminosity relation
to determine the luminosity
Eclipsing binaries — In the last
decade, measurement of eclipsing
binaries' fundamental parameters
has become possible with 8-meter
class telescopes. This makes it
feasible to use them as indicators
of distance. Recently, they have
been used to give direct distance
estimates to the Large Magellanic
Cloud (LMC), Small Magellanic
Cloud (SMC), Andromeda Galaxy
and Triangulum Galaxy. Eclipsing
binaries offer a direct method to
gauge the distance to galaxies to a
new improved 5% level of accuracy
which is feasible with current
technology to a distance of around
3 Mpc (3 million parsecs).[25]
RR Lyrae variables — used for measuring
distances within the galaxy and in
nearby globular clusters.
The following four indicators all use
stars in the old stellar populations
(Population II):[26]
Tip of the red-giant branch (TRGB)
distance indicator.
Planetary nebula luminosity
function (PNLF)
Globular cluster luminosity function
(GCLF)
Surface brightness fluctuation (SBF)
In galactic astronomy, X-ray bursts
(thermonuclear flashes on the surface
of a neutron star) are used as standard
candles. Observations of X-ray burst
sometimes show X-ray spectra
indicating radius expansion. Therefore,
the X-ray flux at the peak of the burst
should correspond to Eddington
luminosity, which can be calculated
once the mass of the neutron star is
known (1.5 solar masses is a commonly
used assumption). This method allows
distance determination of some low-
mass X-ray binaries. Low-mass X-ray
binaries are very faint in the optical,
making their distances extremely
difficult to determine.
Interstellar masers can be used to
derive distances to galactic and some
extragalactic objects that have maser
emission.
Cepheids and novae
The Tully–Fisher relation
The Faber–Jackson relation
Type Ia supernovae that have a very
well-determined maximum absolute
magnitude as a function of the shape of
their light curve and are useful in
determining extragalactic distances up
to a few hundred Mpc.[27] A notable
exception is SN 2003fg, the "Champagne
 Supernova", a Type Ia supernova of
unusual nature.
Redshifts and Hubble's law

Main sequence fitting

When the absolute magnitude for a group

of stars is plotted against the spectral
classification of the star, in a
Hertzsprung–Russell diagram,
evolutionary patterns are found that relate
to the mass, age and composition of the
star. In particular, during their hydrogen
burning period, stars lie along a curve in
the diagram called the main sequence. By
measuring these properties from a star's
spectrum, the position of a main sequence
star on the H–R diagram can be
determined, and thereby the star's
absolute magnitude estimated. A
comparison of this value with the apparent
magnitude allows the approximate
distance to be determined, after correcting
for interstellar extinction of the luminosity
because of gas and dust.

In a gravitationally-bound star cluster such

as the Hyades, the stars formed at
approximately the same age and lie at the
same distance. This allows relatively
accurate main sequence fitting, providing
both age and distance determination.
Extragalactic distance scale
Extragalactic distance indicators [28]
Method Uncertainty for Single Distance to Virgo Range
Galaxy (mag) Cluster (Mpc) (Mpc)

Classical Cepheids 0.16 15–25 29

Novae 0.4 21.1 ± 3.9 20

Planet ary Nebula 0.3 15.4 ± 1.1 50

Luminosit y Funct ion

Globular Clust er Luminosit y 0.4 18.8 ± 3.8 50

Funct ion

Surface Bright ness 0.3 15.9 ± 0.9 50

Fluct uat ions

D–σ relat ion 0.5 16.8 ± 2.4 > 100

Type Ia Supernovae 0.10 19.4 ± 5.0 > 1000

The extragalactic distance scale is a

series of techniques used today by
astronomers to determine the distance of
cosmological bodies beyond our own
galaxy, which are not easily obtained with
traditional methods. Some procedures
utilize properties of these objects, such as
stars, globular clusters, nebulae, and
galaxies as a whole. Other methods are
based more on the statistics and
probabilities of things such as entire
galaxy clusters.

Wilson–Bappu effect

Discovered in 1956 by Olin Wilson and

M.K. Vainu Bappu, the Wilson–Bappu
effect utilizes the effect known as
spectroscopic parallax. Many stars have
features in their spectra, such as the
calcium K-line, that indicate their absolute
magnitude. The distance to the star can
then be calculated from its apparent
magnitude using the distance modulus.

There are major limitations to this method

for finding stellar distances. The
calibration of the spectral line strengths
has limited accuracy and it requires a
correction for interstellar extinction.
Though in theory this method has the
ability to provide reliable distance
calculations to stars up to 7 megaparsecs
(Mpc), it is generally only used for stars at
hundreds of kiloparsecs (kpc).

Classical Cepheids
Beyond the reach of the Wilson–Bappu
effect, the next method relies on the
period-luminosity relation of classical
Cepheid variable stars. The following
relation can be used to calculate the
distance to Galactic and extragalactic
classical Cepheids:

[29]

[30]

Several problems complicate the use of

Cepheids as standard candles and are
actively debated, chief among them are:
the nature and linearity of the period-
luminosity relation in various passbands
and the impact of metallicity on both the
zero-point and slope of those relations,
and the effects of photometric
contamination (blending) and a changing
(typically unknown) extinction law on
Cepheid
distances.[31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39]

These unresolved matters have resulted in

cited values for the Hubble constant
ranging between 60 km/s/Mpc and
80 km/s/Mpc. Resolving this discrepancy
is one of the foremost problems in
astronomy since some cosmological
parameters of the Universe may be
constrained significantly better by
supplying a precise value of the Hubble
constant.[40][41]

Cepheid variable stars were the key

instrument in Edwin Hubble's 1923
conclusion that M31 (Andromeda) was an
external galaxy, as opposed to a smaller
nebula within the Milky Way. He was able
to calculate the distance of M31 to 285
Kpc, today's value being 770 Kpc.

As detected thus far, NGC 3370, a spiral

galaxy in the constellation Leo, contains
the farthest Cepheids yet found at a
distance of 29 Mpc. Cepheid variable stars
are in no way perfect distance markers: at
nearby galaxies they have an error of
about 7% and up to a 15% error for the
most distant.

Supernovae

SN 1994D (bright spot on the lower left) in the NGC

4526 galaxy. Image by NASA, ESA, The Hubble Key
Project Team, and The High-Z Supernova Search Team
There are several different methods for
which supernovae can be used to measure
extragalactic distances.

Measuring a supernova's
photosphere

We can assume that a supernova expands

in a spherically symmetric manner. If the
supernova is close enough such that we
can measure the angular extent, θ(t), of its
photosphere, we can use the equation

where ω is angular velocity, θ is angular

extent. In order to get an accurate
measurement, it is necessary to make two
observations separated by time Δt.
Subsequently, we can use

where d is the distance to the supernova,

Vej is the supernova's ejecta's radial
velocity (it can be assumed that Vej equals
Vθ if spherically symmetric).

This method works only if the supernova is

close enough to be able to measure
accurately the photosphere. Similarly, the
expanding shell of gas is in fact not
perfectly spherical nor a perfect
blackbody. Also interstellar extinction can
hinder the accurate measurements of the
photosphere. This problem is further
exacerbated by core-collapse supernova.
All of these factors contribute to the
distance error of up to 25%.

Type Ia light curves

Type Ia supernovae are some of the best

ways to determine extragalactic
distances. Ia's occur when a binary white
dwarf star begins to accrete matter from
its companion star. As the white dwarf
gains matter, eventually it reaches its
Chandrasekhar limit of .
Once reached, the star becomes unstable
and undergoes a runaway nuclear fusion
reaction. Because all Type Ia supernovae
explode at about the same mass, their
absolute magnitudes are all the same.
This makes them very useful as standard
candles. All Type Ia supernovae have a
standard blue and visual magnitude of

Therefore, when observing a Type Ia

supernova, if it is possible to determine
what its peak magnitude was, then its
distance can be calculated. It is not
intrinsically necessary to capture the
supernova directly at its peak magnitude;
using the multicolor light curve shape
method (MLCS), the shape of the light
curve (taken at any reasonable time after
the initial explosion) is compared to a
family of parameterized curves that will
determine the absolute magnitude at the
maximum brightness. This method also
takes into effect interstellar
extinction/dimming from dust and gas.

Similarly, the stretch method fits the

particular supernovae magnitude light
curves to a template light curve. This
template, as opposed to being several light
curves at different wavelengths (MLCS) is
just a single light curve that has been
stretched (or compressed) in time. By
using this Stretch Factor, the peak
magnitude can be determined.

Using Type Ia supernovae is one of the

most accurate methods, particularly since
supernova explosions can be visible at
great distances (their luminosities rival
that of the galaxy in which they are
situated), much farther than Cepheid
Variables (500 times farther). Much time
has been devoted to the refining of this
method. The current uncertainty
approaches a mere 5%, corresponding to
an uncertainty of just 0.1 magnitudes.
Novae in distance determinations

Novae can be used in much the same way

as supernovae to derive extragalactic
distances. There is a direct relation
between a nova's max magnitude and the
time for its visible light to decline by two
magnitudes. This relation is shown to be:

Where is the time derivative of the nova's

mag, describing the average rate of decline
over the first 2 magnitudes.

After novae fade, they are about as bright

as the most luminous Cepheid variable
stars, therefore both these techniques
have about the same max distance: ~ 20
Mpc. The error in this method produces an
uncertainty in magnitude of about ±0.4

Globular cluster luminosity

function

Based on the method of comparing the

luminosities of globular clusters (located
in galactic halos) from distant galaxies to
that of the Virgo Cluster, the globular
cluster luminosity function carries an
uncertainty of distance of about 20%
(or 0.4 magnitudes).
US astronomer William Alvin Baum first
attempted to use globular clusters to
measure distant elliptical galaxies. He
compared the brightest globular clusters in
Virgo A galaxy with those in Andromeda,
assuming the luminosities of the clusters
were the same in both. Knowing the
distance to Andromeda, Baum has
assumed a direct correlation and
estimated Virgo A's distance.

Baum used just a single globular cluster,

but individual formations are often poor
standard candles. Canadian astronomer
René Racine assumed the use of the
globular cluster luminosity function (GCLF)
would lead to a better approximation. The
number of globular clusters as a function
of magnitude is given by:

where m0 is the turnover magnitude, M0 is

the magnitude of the Virgo cluster, and
sigma is the dispersion ~ 1.4 mag.

It is important to remember that it is

assumed that globular clusters all have
roughly the same luminosities within the
universe. There is no universal globular
cluster luminosity function that applies to
all galaxies.
Planetary nebula luminosity
function

Like the GCLF method, a similar numerical

analysis can be used for planetary nebulae
(note the use of more than one!) within far
off galaxies. The planetary nebula
luminosity function (PNLF) was first
proposed in the late 1970s by Holland
Cole and David Jenner. They suggested
that all planetary nebulae might all have
similar maximum intrinsic brightness, now
calculated to be M = −4.53. This would
therefore make them potential standard
candles for determining extragalactic
distances.
Astronomer George Howard Jacoby and
his colleagues later proposed that the
PNLF function equaled:

Where N(M) is number of planetary nebula,

having absolute magnitude M. M* is equal
to the nebula with the brightest magnitude.

Surface brightness fluctuation

method
Galaxy cluster

The following method deals with the

overall inherent properties of galaxies.
These methods, though with varying error
percentages, have the ability to make
distance estimates beyond 100 Mpc,
though it is usually applied more locally.

The surface brightness fluctuation (SBF)

method takes advantage of the use of
CCD cameras on telescopes. Because of
spatial fluctuations in a galaxy's surface
brightness, some pixels on these cameras
will pick up more stars than others.
However, as distance increases the picture
will become increasingly smoother.
Analysis of this describes a magnitude of
the pixel-to-pixel variation, which is directly
related to a galaxy's distance.

D–σ relation

The D–σ relation, used in elliptical

galaxies, relates the angular diameter (D)
of the galaxy to its velocity dispersion. It is
important to describe exactly what D
represents, in order to understand this
method. It is, more precisely, the galaxy's
angular diameter out to the surface
brightness level of 20.75 B-mag arcsec−2.
This surface brightness is independent of
the galaxy's actual distance from us.
Instead, D is inversely proportional to the
galaxy's distance, represented as d. Thus,
this relation does not employ standard
candles. Rather, D provides a standard
ruler. This relation between D and σ is

Where C is a constant which depends on

the distance to the galaxy clusters.

This method has the potential to become

one of the strongest methods of galactic
distance calculators, perhaps exceeding
the range of even the Tully–Fisher method.
As of today, however, elliptical galaxies
aren't bright enough to provide a
calibration for this method through the use
of techniques such as Cepheids. Instead,
calibration is done using more crude
methods.

Overlap and scaling

A succession of distance indicators, which
is the distance ladder, is needed for
determining distances to other galaxies.
The reason is that objects bright enough to
be recognized and measured at such
distances are so rare that few or none are
present nearby, so there are too few
examples close enough with reliable
trigonometric parallax to calibrate the
indicator. For example, Cepheid variables,
one of the best indicators for nearby spiral
galaxies, cannot yet be satisfactorily
calibrated by parallax alone, though the
Gaia space mission is expected to solve
that specific problem. The situation is
further complicated by the fact that
different stellar populations generally do
not have all types of stars in them.
Cepheids in particular are massive stars,
with short lifetimes, so they will only be
found in places where stars have very
recently been formed. Consequently,
because elliptical galaxies usually have
long ceased to have large-scale star
formation, they will not have Cepheids.
Instead, distance indicators whose origins
are in an older stellar population (like
novae and RR Lyrae variables) must be
used. However, RR Lyrae variables are less
luminous than Cepheids, and novae are
unpredictable and an intensive monitoring
program—and luck during that program—is
needed to gather enough novae in the
target galaxy for a good distance
estimate.

Because the more distant steps of the

cosmic distance ladder depend upon the
nearer ones, the more distant steps
include the effects of errors in the nearer
steps, both systematic and statistical
ones. The result of these propagating
errors means that distances in astronomy
are rarely known to the same level of
precision as measurements in the other
sciences, and that the precision
necessarily is poorer for more distant
types of object.

Another concern, especially for the very

brightest standard candles, is their
"standardness": how homogeneous the
objects are in their true absolute
magnitude. For some of these different
standard candles, the homogeneity is
based on theories about the formation and
evolution of stars and galaxies, and is thus
also subject to uncertainties in those
aspects. For the most luminous of
distance indicators, the Type Ia
supernovae, this homogeneity is known to
be poor[42]; however, no other class of
object is bright enough to be detected at
such large distances, so the class is useful
simply because there is no real alternative.

The observational result of Hubble's Law,

the proportional relationship between
distance and the speed with which a
galaxy is moving away from us (usually
referred to as redshift) is a product of the
cosmic distance ladder. Edwin Hubble
observed that fainter galaxies are more
redshifted. Finding the value of the Hubble
constant was the result of decades of
work by many astronomers, both in
amassing the measurements of galaxy
redshifts and in calibrating the steps of the
distance ladder. Hubble's Law is the
primary means we have for estimating the
distances of quasars and distant galaxies
in which individual distance indicators
cannot be seen.

See also
Distance measures (cosmology)
Orders of magnitude
(length)#Astronomical
 Standard ruler

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Measuring the Universe The
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External links
The ABC's of distances (UCLA)
The Extragalactic Distance Scale by Bill
Keel
The Hubble Space Telescope Key
Project on the Extragalactic Distance
Scale
The Hubble Constant , a historical
discussion
NASA Cosmic Distance Scale
 PNLF information database
The Astrophysical Journal

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